DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci answered a number of questions submitted by fans to Music Radar recently. Here are some excerpts:

Q: I've noticed a strong shift towards metal on the past few Dream Theater albums as opposed to metal being just one of the many elements. I'm not complaining, but can we expect to hear a more experimental way of doing things in the future? Can we expect another concept album?

Petrucci: "Well, we like to constantly change and invent and think of every album as a new opportunity to do something different. So absolutely, people can expect more experimentation and changes. It's kind of what we're about. It's the spirit of progressive music in general - to not be stagnant. Obviously, you have to keep an identity, but at the same time you have to make subtle changes to keep it interesting, so from record to record there's a story to be told, as opposed to just a single story."

Q: Do you have plans to release another solo album?

Petrucci: "Yeah, I absolutely will do another solo album. I'm not sure when exactly, but my last one was in 2005. A lot of people have been asking me about this. I'll definitely do another one. Absolutely."

Q: What's the hardest Dream Theater song to play live?

Petrucci: "There's not a specific song that's hard; it's just parts in songs that are hard. Every once in a while something will come up in a solo I did that's difficult, or a passage. It's not like the entire song is hard, you know? Just sections here and there. The one in the song that somebody mentioned, 'The Glass Prison', that's pretty difficult, especially if the pace is right. It's fast - it's hard to keep it nice and clean and in time and articulate."

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